Obama marks end of Iraq war

President Barack Obama marked the end of the war in Iraq on Tuesday, greeting the crew that brought back the American flag that flew over Baghdad throughout the conflict.

During a half-hour ceremony at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington — which took place just as House Republicans were voting to reject the Senate’s deal to extend the payroll tax cut into early 2012 — military leaders thanked the troops for their service, family members for their support and remembered those who gave their lives in the conflict.

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Joined by Vice President Joe Biden, Obama greeted a few dozen troops from the Army, Navy and Air Force, shaking their hands and thanking them for their service, before entering a hangar about 10 yards away.

Neither the president nor the vice president spoke at the ceremony.

“Today is an historic day as we commemorate the return of the colors under which are armed forces fought to ably and proudly in Iraq, and mark the end of the second longest war in U.S. history,” deputy defense secretary Ashton Carter told troops, their families and dignitaries gathered in a hangar on the base.

“We welcome you, we’re proud of you, we’re in your debt. As the president has so eloquently said, your service belongs to the ages,” Carter said. “You have given the Iraqi people a true new dawn, and as their morning light spreads, we will stand with them.”

Last week, Obama spoke to troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and thanked them their hard work and sacrifice. “The war in Iraq will soon belong to history, and your service belongs to the ages,” he said, making no mention of his opposition to the war before he became commander-in-chief. In 2002, during the run-up to the conflict, Obama dismissed it as “a dumb war.”

And none of those tensions were on display Tuesday, as Gen. Lloyd Austin, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, expressed his gratitude to Obama and Biden. “To both of you, thank you for your leadership and your support throughout Operation New Dawn,” he said.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was in Baghdad last week with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to watch the U.S. flag lowered and cased in camouflage to return home, said the end of the war marked the end of “a generational journey, a journey of 20 years that took us through two wars with Iraq to a new beginning in our relationship with Iraq.”

“Because of the courage and resilience of our military and our partners, those in our own government, throughout the world and in Iraq, 30 million Iraqis are free today,” Dempsey said.